CIVIC IMPROVEMENT. 



271 



show for autumn. Preparation for the lat- 

 ter must be made in spring, and will be 

 found an excellent thing to keep alive the in- 

 terest of your association. I would have 

 plants and cut flowers of other varieties for 

 sale, but roses and chrysanthemums must be 

 the main feature. The sale of plants and 

 cut flowers never fails to bring the treasurv 

 a handsome sum. 



As to the application of money, you will 

 as usual find you never have money enough 

 for the work you desire to do. I advise 

 new societies to concentrate the little they 

 have in putting in order the most unsightly 

 and offensive place or places in town — al- 

 leys, sidewalks, gutters, the railway station, 

 the public square, the church or school 

 yards, or the cemetery grounds. Whatever 

 it may be, put it in order and keep it so. 



Fig. 2606. The Road Passing the Fair Grounds 

 Before It Was Improved. 



Malce it so clean or so pretty that it is notice- 

 able. 



Do whatever most needs doing, and do it 

 so systematically and thoroughly that no ad- 

 verse criticism can be made ; do it tactfully, 

 make no enemies. Let the city officials 

 know that you intend to work in harmony 

 with them and to support them in all their 

 efforts for the public welfare. As the sec- 

 retary of one association wrote me, " we do 



the things that are outside the province of 

 an alderman's duties, while, by arousing 

 public opinion and a general civic pride, we 

 really make it easier for them (the city offi- 

 cials) to make laws tending to the town's 

 improvement." 



There has been much curiosity regarding 

 the management of the prizes offered by im- 

 provement associations. One association, 

 after some experience in this work, has di- 

 vided its city into four districts, through he 

 middle each way as nearly even as possible, 

 and to each district offers the following 

 prizes : Ten dollars for the best lawn (this 

 includes front and back yards, shrubbery, 

 flowers, and general neatness of alleys and 

 gutters). ' Five dollars for the second best 

 premises. Ten dollars for the best kept 

 school yard. Five dollars for the second 

 best (money to go to the janitors, or who- 

 ever does the work. Ten dollars for the 

 best kept lawn about a public building other 

 than a school house. Five for second best. 

 This last prize will include the postoffice, 

 library, court house, church yards, etc. 

 Three dollars for the best window or porch 

 box. Two dollars for second best. Five 

 dollars for the best grown vines that cover 

 fences, porches, or windows. These vines 

 to be the tender annuals, not the hardy vines 

 that require but little care from year to year. 

 Ten dollars to the neatest and most im- 

 proved premises (front and back) along any 

 railroad within the city limits. Five dollars 

 to the second best. The improvement to b? 

 judged by comparison with the condition of 

 the property the previous year. 



A special prize of ten dollars is offered for 

 the best kept premises of a man or woman 

 living in rented property, and whose income 

 does not exceed twelve hundred dollars a 

 year. I should have stated earlier, perhaps, 

 that all these prizes were limited to appli- 

 cants whose incomes do not exceed the 

 above sum. The aim is to arouse interest 



